Amazon, "in accordance with certain free and open source software licenses," released today the open source code files for their 8.9" Kindle Fire HD, one of the latest tablets to join their wildly successful e-reader lineup.

The source code release comes about five days before the HD 8.9 was scheduled for official launch (though it actually began shipping today), giving those who want to tinker, develop with, or simply ogle the fresh batch of source a fair lead time.

While we don't appreciate the manner in which EVLeaks (and others) initially approached this situation with conspiracy theories, baseless accusations, and speculation, we appreciate EVLeaks' withdrawal of previous comments, and our readers' support through the entire episode.

In a (relatively) timely release, Samsung has given eager developers something to play with over the weekend – the manufacturer recently dropped Ice Cream Sandwich kernel source code for a handful of devices including three variants of the Galaxy Note 10.1 (the N8000, 8010, and 8013), the Wi-Fi Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, and both 3G and Wi-Fi variants of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 (P7500 and 7510).

When a new device comes out or gets a new version of Android, one thing developers want need to ensure ROMs run as smoothly and efficiently as possible is the kernel source code. Samsung has been quite good about releasing source code for new and updated devices, and it has now made available the Ice Cream Sandwich kernel source for the AT&T Galaxy S II.

While that may not mean much for the bulk of the crowd in terms of actual usefulness, it's definitely good news for the development community.

Long after releasing the kernel source for other variants of the One X (as well as the US One S and EVO LTE), HTC has finally released the source for AT&T's variant.

Users may recall that the AT&T-connected One X was left out of the initial kernel source code drop just after HTC delivered a somewhat disheartening statement to the Verge indicating that the device was not eligible to participate in the Taiwanese manufacturer's bootloader unlocking program due to unspecified "restrictions," which many users read as "AT&T says no."

While it appears that the AT&T-connected One X still isn't compatible with HTC's bootloader unlocking tool (and may never be), the release of its kernel source code is still positive news for tweakers, tinkerers, and developers alike.

In a post to the Android Building group earlier today, Jean-Baptiste Queru announced that Samsung's Nexus S 4G has officially and fully been brought into the AOSP fold. The device is now fully supported by AOSP, meaning its CDMA – and WiMax – binaries can now be "properly" distributed. Here's the full text of the announcement:

We've been able to resolve the issues around Nexus S 4G, and we can now properly distribute its CDMA and WiMAX binaries.

Just over two weeks after the official Galaxy SIII announcement, and days before its target launch date, Samsung has released the ICS open source files for AT&T's own Galaxy SIII (otherwise known as SGH-I747M), as well as T-Mobiles variant - the SGH-T999V. These releases are in keeping with Samsung's recent pattern of timely source code drops, which has certainly been encouraging for developers looking to tinker with one of the hottest Android devices available.

VLC is one of those tools that's in every geek's toolbox. The video player that supports every video format known to man still doesn't have an official, finished Android version, though. In the meantime, however, developer cvpcs, has done us all the courtesy of setting up an hourly build server for the alpha of VLC for Android.

The builds come in both NEON and non-NEON flavors. So, folks with older phones, or devices with the Tegra 2, for example, should probably download the non-NEON version.